Purpose of Law
In another post, I had written of the benefits of the commands of God being rightly applied. However, this time I’m going to focus in more upon where resistance to this comes from (especially within the church). Specifically, nearly everyone in America has a worldview that is a complete inversion of the following verse.
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
1 Timothy 1:8-11
While there are some in the church who teach that, even for believers, following the commands of Christ are a sort of optional “bonus”, most accept that the commands should matter to believers. However, to not violate the principles of religious pluralism, most have bought into the idea that the commands of God apply only to those who choose to apply them to themselves.
That is to say, the law is laid down only for the just. The lawless and disobedient have not chosen to follow the law and therefore are not really in violation of it at all (since it doesn’t apply to them). In using these words it becomes clear how this teaching is a direct contradiction to those verses.
Not for the Just?!
First, we must address what it means that the law not apply to the just. Should believers consider God’s commands pointless for themselves? By no means! Would a person be just while existing in constant rebellion against direction given by the judge of the universe? Such a person would surely be among the lawless.
Rather, the reason the law is not for the just is because the just have no need for the letter of the law. Being given new hearts and in communion with the Holy Spirit, believers need only be encouraged to follow their higher order desires rather than the desires of their own flesh. The law need not be spelled out any longer, as it is written in their hearts.
Forcing it on Others?
However, if only the just do the commands of God willingly than what would it look like for the law to be applied principally to the lawless? Isn’t it unfair to require those who haven’t chosen to follow God to still be obligated to his commands?
Not at all, though this sounds like almost “blasphemy” against the programming into which we’ve nearly all been indoctrinated. The assumption behind this is that all beliefs are equally valid. Perhaps one person believes in Christ and another in Allah. Reason dictates that every point of contradiction is evidence that at least one is wrong, but reason need not apply.
If we are truly trusting that all that was created was created by Christ(Colossians 1:16), than there is no authority over any part of creation that doesn’t come from him. He is not one choice among many but the only God who is sovereign over everything.
When he says man ought to do this or ought not to do that, he is not proposing a system that each man is entitled to subscribe to if he wills. He is telling all men everywhere on what terms they will be judged when the consequences are eternal!
The triune God is not “the Christian God” he is the God even if every man were to deny it. Because he will come again to judge who lives and dies, it is no mercy to keep the law from the lawless. Instead, it enables their own destruction by providing no meaningful warning.
Resist the Scheme
I’m not here saying that Christians are obligated to make all the lawless care about God’s law. As the name implies, such a person is not receptive to laws. However, my plea is to review your own thinking to see if the world has pulled the wool over your eyes with this scheme.
We’re bombarded constantly with the idea that faith is just an optional addition to life which comes with unique obligations which a person can take or leave. Rather, the God of the universe is revealing his will in how creation ought to behave to his church. To cover it up is to do the world a disservice, even if they hate when we reveal it.
